Painted Over Graffiti

Painted Over Graffiti

It's more than painted over graffiti,
The trouble with our world today.
The problem is bigger than a paint brush,
Used to wash wanton layers,
Worn off colors, away.


Strategic historical scholars,
Have studied to rote,
Besmirch budding Buddhists babies,
Learning to vote by thinking.
What a novel concept!
If people would just pay attention,
The whole damn could could get smart.


The youth keep shouting louder,
Falling fast, far, and as hard,
As earlier generations did.
They are THE hope of our nation.
Shouting codes of their passions
Spouting a shiznit with voices hid.

There's something wrong in this country.
It's been simmering, a brew, quite a while.
The hippies got old and face aging,
While the youth now do their own thing
With a new fashioned style.


No lessons learned,
Old leaves not even turned.
No values passed between
Because values, then,
Weren't the popular thing,
To be "In, with it, Man.
Can you dig it"?


It's been decades since I painted graffiti.
Such verse is not the pen of my craft today.
But, there are 50 something million
Americans saying,
We won't let you whitewash us away.

So I'll face every day on my own terms.
The representatives stand for me, too.
There was a new one here, just elected.
I will visit his office to see if he's true:


To what democracy means,
When your philosophical theory
Of war and peace
Is in the minority.

How can I shout louder
So everyone can hear?
I do not approve of my President's actions,
Won twice electorally, fair and clear.

I don't want our soldiers in Iraq.
Let the tribes and the nations
In the cradle of all civilizations
Sort it out for themselves,
As they always have,
Eons before American written history.

So, bring our brave soldiers
Back Home.

Don't let another die.
Bring them home to their family.
This is no way for the brave to die.

Politics and oil infiltrate damnly,
Tearing apart the precious part of family.
God, peace, and love be praised.
Because, we said,
"All you need is love,
All together now. . . ."

Remember all the words?
And how they made you feel?
Life is happening now.
What YOU do is real.

Only you
Can prevent tragedy.